Julian Malcolm Simpson (born December 1970) is an English independent scholar, writer, and historian of migration and healthcare. He is best known for the book ''Migrant Architects of the NHS: South Asian doctors and the reinvention of British general practice (1940s–1980s)'', published by

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...

(2018), and which formed the basis of the

Royal College of General Practitioners The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is the professional body for general (medical) practitioners (GPs/Family Physicians/Primary Care Physicians) in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including l ...

(RCGP's) exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the NHS.Julian Simpson.
Oral History Society. Retrieved 10 August 2018. Simpson spent much of his childhood in West Africa where he attended school in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, with intermittent trips to North Tyneside. He completed his education in France and studied at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the

École supérieure de journalisme de Lille The École supérieure de journalisme (ESJ Lille) (in English: ''Superior School of Journalism of Lille'') is an institution of higher education, a French ''Grande École'' in Lille dedicated to journalism and related studies. It has been elected be ...

. He later worked for a number of years as a journalist, broadcaster, campaigner and policy advisor, before going on to study history and complete his PhD on "South Asian doctors and the development of

general practice General practice is the name given in various nations, such as the United Kingdom, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to the services provided by general practitioners. In some nations, such as the US, similar services may be describe ...

in Great Britain (c.1948-c.1983)". He has since continued to publish articles, book chapters and books on topics surrounding medical migration and healthcare.

Early life and education

Julian Simpson was born in the North East of England in December 1970,Dr Julian SimpsonDiploma, PostgradDip, MA, PhD.
University of Manchester. Retrieved 10 August 2018. with his ancestry having roots in Ireland, Germany and the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. His early education was in France, following which he attended high school at the Lycée National Léon Mba in Gabon, with intermittent summer holidays back in

Howdon Howdon is a largely residential area in the eastern part of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. It consists of High Howdon and the smaller settlement of East Howdon. Much of the High Howdon area was formerly called Willington prior to post-World W ...

, North Tyneside, where he first witnessed South Asian migrant doctors in

in an industrial working-class region. Upon return to France, he completed his secondary education and gained admission to the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (IEP) de Paris and then trained as a journalist at École supérieure de journalisme de Lille. Subsequently, as a French citizen, working for the French

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

, he went to Romania to do his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

Career

In addition to being French, he is also a British citizen, and he returned to the UK where he worked with the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, broadcasting to French speaking Africa and contributing to other programmes and the BBC website. He later worked as a spokesman for the

Scottish Refugee Council The Scottish Refugee Council is a registered charity that provides advice and services to asylum seekers and refugees. The objective of the organisation is ‘building a better future with refugees in Scotland’. The charity was formed in E ...

in the early 2000s. He illustrated how his background, upbringing and experiences of hostilities to migrants led him to believe that a "lack of historical awareness was at least partially at the root of such attitudes" and this directed him to pursue a "critical engagement with the past". He completed an MA in history at

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

, and received his PhD from Manchester University in 2012 for a thesis by the title of "South Asian doctors and the development of general practice in Great Britain (c.1948-c.1983)". Between 2012 and 2014 he worked with historian Stephanie Snow on the recent history of Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London. He was subsequently appointed lead researcher on a CLAHRC (Collaboration for Applied Health Research and Care) Greater Manchester project, where he worked on access to general practice in the NHS and its connectedness to past official policies.Historical Policy Review on Access to General Practice.
NHS National Institute for Health Research. Retrieved 10 August 2018. Simpson specialises in the history of the National Health Service, migration history, oral history, and history and policy, and is a member of the board of the UK Oral History Society. In 2018 he published his research in the book ''Migrant Architects of the NHS: South Asian doctors and the reinvention of British general practice (1940s–1980s)'', published by Manchester University Press (2018), and which formed the basis of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP’s) exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the NHS. He is also the co-editor (with Eureka Henrich of the University of Hertfordshire) of ''History, Historians and the Immigration Debate: Going Back to Where We Came From''. This volume, published by

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

(2018) is a series of essays by immigration historians who relate their work to contemporary policy controversies around migration. It includes contributions by leading historians of immigration, Donna Gabaccia, Leo Lucassen and Gérard Noiriel.''History, Historians and the Immigration Debate''.
Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved 10 August 2018.

Selected publications

Books

''Migrant Architects of the NHS: South Asian doctors and the reinvention of British general practice (1940s–1980s)''

, February 2018, .
''History, Historians and the Immigration Debate: Going Back to Where We Came From ''(with Eureka Henrich)
Palgrave Macmillan, October 2018, .

Book chapter

"Providing "Special" Types of Labour and Exerting Agency: How Migrant Doctors have Shaped the United Kingdom's National Health Service"
in Laurence Monnais & David Wright (Eds.) (2016) ''Doctors Beyond Borders: The Transnational Migration of Physicians in the Twentieth Century''. Toronto:

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...

. pp. 208–229. (with Stephanie Snow and Aneez Esmail) .

Papers

"Where are UK trained doctors? The migrant care law and its implications for the NHS"
''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'', 31 May 2018, .
"Adding the past to the policy mix: an historical approach to the issue of access to general practice in England"
''British Journal of General Practice'', co-authored with Stephanie Snow, Kath Checkland and Aneez Esmail, November 2015, , , pp. 606–607.
"Why we should try to get the joke: Humor, laughter, and the history of healthcare"
''Oral History Review'', co-author with Stephanie Snow, 1 April 2017, , pp. 77–93.
"International medical graduates and quality of care"
co-authored with Aneez Esmail, ''British Medical Journal'', 6 February 2017, p. 356.
"Reframing NHS history: visual sources in a study of UK-based migrant doctors"
''Oral History'', 2014, pp. 56–68.
"The UK's dysfunctional relationship with medical migrants: The Daniel Ubani case and reform of out-of-hours services"
co-authored with Aneez Esmail, ''British Journal of General Practice'', 2011, , pp. 208–211.
"Access to general practice in England: time for a policy rethink"
'' British Journal of General Practice'', October 2015, co-authored with Kath Checkland, Stephanie Snow, Jennifer Voorhees, Katy Rothwell and Aneez Esmail, pp. 606–607.
"Writing migrants back into NHS history: Addressing a 'collective amnesia' and its policy implications"
''

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine The ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Medicine with full editorial independence. Its continuous publication history dates back to 1809. Since July ...

'', October 2010, , pp. 392–6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Julian M. Living people Independent scholars English medical historians Alumni of the University of Manchester 1970 births English journalists Alumni of Northumbria University